Tom, one more thing I want to add that will save you money.....you dont need to hire an architect to draw up plans. Architects will charge between $3-$5 per s.f to draw up plans. Find yourself a draftsman and negotiate a s.f. price for no more than $2/sf. Once the drawing is complete see if the building dept. will work with you on engineering. The building dept. will have plan checkers that may offer to help out. This will save you approx. another $1/sf which is what an engineer will cost you. This is a box you are building so it doesn't take much to engineer a box. I have been doing this long enough that I could engineer it but I dont carry the degree nor the stamp.
As far as plans go, you will need 3 sets with an extra elevation page that typically goes to the design review dept. All building departments are different and will specify what minimum size plans to submit. Design review will want to know what your new structure will look like and as long as it isn't an eye sore you should be good.
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Gaetano Cosentino
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